Last weekend’s Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting, featuring CEO-designate Greg Abel sitting by Warren Buffett’s side, helped bring the company’s after-Buffett future into somewhat sharper focus.
Reuters wrote Abel “is expected to preserve the culture at the behemoth even if he does not match the star power of his legendary boss.”
It cited expectations among investors and analysts that Buffett’s successor will make long-term investments and won’t pay dividends to shareholders.
And in what was something of a surprise, Buffett told shareholders that he expects Abel will have ultimate responsibility for both acquisitions and the company’s equity portfolio. “I would leave the capital allocation to Greg, and he understands business extremely well. If you understand business, you’ll understand common stocks.”
There had been speculation that portfolio managers Ted Weschler and Todd Combs would make stock decisions for Berkshire after Buffett.
They still may wind up with day-to-day responsibility, but under Abel’s supervision.
